Month: July 2025

Your pension tells a very different story

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In Spain, those who have worked as self -employed are that, upon reaching retirement, The amount of your pension It is significantly lower than that of its equals employees. This situation, a priori, seems entirely unfair, since, for setting a more or less close example, an autonomous electrician who works alone, will charge a salary similar to a salaried electrician for his work, and both pay a social security price that will then determine the amount of his Retirement pension. However, the main difference between the two is that, in the case of the wage earner, a part of that price is assumed by the company that hires it, while the autonomous does not do so in the same way. That difference is what causes the self -employed to retire a pension much smaller than employees. Difference of pensions between employees and autonomous. The difference between retirement pensions of salaried workers and self -employed remains considerable in 2025. According to the official data Of the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security, the average pension of the self -employed is 1,008.8 euros per month, while the employees of the general regime receive 1,665.5 euros per month on average. A relevant aspect is that this difference is even greater depending on gender. Autonomous men receive an average pension of 1,150.10 euros after retirement, while women receive 863.97 euros. This inequality is also due to the quoted years and the sections chosen during working life according to the data collected by Social Security. On average, this is a monthly difference of 657.72 euros in the retirement pension and more than 9,200 euros a year between both groups. The monthly quota: key to inequality. The pension gap between salaried and self -employed workers remains stable in the historical data, and has an obvious reason: most self -employed opt for the minimum contribution base to maximize their monthly fee. As can be seen in the lower picture, in the case of wage earners, both company and worker assume a certain percentage of the price for the employee, starting from a contribution base, being the company who assumes most of that cost and enters it in the Social Security on account of its employee. GUY Company Worker Total Common contingencies 23.60% 4.70% 28.30% Intergenerational Equity Mechanism (MEI) 0.67% 0.13% 0.80% Unemployment (indefinite contract) 5.50% 1.55% 7.05% Unemployment (temporary contract) 6.70% 1.60% 8.30% Fogasa 0.20% 0% 0.20% Professional training 0.60% 0.10% 0.70% However, the calculation of the self -employed contribution base is not made based on the salary he receives as in employees, but based on their net benefit and, depending on that amount, is welcomed by the adequate fee section. That section defines its minimum contribution base, although the autonomous can choose to quote for a larger base. Broadly speaking, so that a salaried salaried salaried salary is 1,600 euros, its contribution base must be about 2,000 euros. On the other hand, the autonomous electrician who works only from our example that receives the same net salary of 1,600 euros, will have a monthly fee of about 300 euros, but Your contribution base It will be about 960.78 euros. That implies that both charge similar wages, but the autonomous quotes for a much lower contribution base. Quotation sections and its minimum and maximum bases. THE PROBLEM: Most quote the minimum base. According to the Ministry statistics, of the 3,436,929 freelancers that exist in Spain, 2,858,865 are quoted for the minimum base for their net income or by 1.5 of the minimum base. Only 72,935 would be quoting for a base near what an salaried worker would have, which would be something close to 3 times or more than the minimum base. Returning to the example of our autonomous electrician with a net profit of 1,600 euros, it would be limited to a maximum price of 1,700 euros, which would mean an increase in its monthly fee to about 534 euros. The self -employed do not pay more quotation. In a first glance it may seem that an autonomous has a greater economic pressure than a wage earner. However, both contributions are close to 30% of the contribution base (it is an approximate percentage since it varies depending on the type of contract, sector, etc.). The main difference is that, as can be seen in the quotation box above, in the case of the wage earner the company assumes a higher percentage than the wage earner (although all part of the Gross Employee salary), while the autonomous is a company and employee in turn, which is perceived a greater impact on the relationship between net benefit and contribution base. How to save that gap. Since the totality of the quota of the contribution falls on the autonomous, to excessively elevate the monthly fee (and therefore its contribution base) to collect a retirement pension near a wage earner it is a great considerable economic effort. So it is best to increase the price base progressively as it is approaching The retirement ageto quote for the largest possible base in recent years to raise the amount of the pension. The amount of the final pension is calculated on the contribution basis of the last 25 years quoted (300 months) and, if the base has always been low, the resulting benefit is insufficient compared to employees, which are quoted according to their real salary. Therefore, in more than 60% of the Spanish provinces, the Medium Retirement Pension Of the self -employed barely exceeds 1,008 euros per month and in no community the autonomous retirement pension is equal to the minimum interprofessional salary in 2025. In Xataka | Germany has had an idea to retire does not become urban legend: pension plans for six -year -old children Image | Unspash (Matt Bennett)

This Sony sound bar is ideal for riding your own home cinema

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When watching television, a sound bar can significantly improve the experience. If you have been looking for a time for your living room and wanted a compact model, this Sony HT-S2000 It is a good purchase option and more that is now on offer. In Amazon, you can take it almost with a 40% discount, for 306.31 euros. Sony HT-S2000 TV sound bar * Some price may have changed from the last review A super compact sound bar and now very lowered Signed by Sony, this sound bar is 3.1 channels and its compact size makes it ideal even for small rooms. It stands out for bringing the subwoofer integrated, with which to enjoy deep serious and is compatible with technologies Dolby Atmos and DTS: x. Offers one 350 W power and 3D dimensional sound. In addition, it has a technology that limits distortion, so that you enjoy a quality sound. If you have one TV Sony Bravia, in addition, you can control it from the Smart TV menu itself. Finally, it can be noted that configuring it is very simple. You can connect it by Bluetooth And also through cable HDMI and following the steps that appear in the Home Entertainment Connect app. Other devices that can help you to ride your own home cinema 30000 lumens projector (official Netflix & Dolby Audio) * Some price may have changed from the last review Amazon Fire TV Cube (last generation) * Some price may have changed from the last review Some of the links of this article are affiliated and can report a benefit to Xataka. In case of non -availability, offers may vary. Images | Sony In Xataka | Best Bluetooth speakers. Which to buy and 10 recommended models In Xataka | Best televisions in quality price. Which to buy and seven recommended 4K 4K

Copy an idea of Elon Musk

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Tiktok is a platform that, well used, can be really entertaining and until we learn something. The problem is that for each piece of useful, original and developed content there are many others With half truths, disinformation, Myths sold as realities, Urban legends and statements based on “Source: Comic Sans”. This content may not have bad intentions and be published from ignorance and ignorance, but that does not mean that it can lead to misunderstandings. The Tiktok solution? Be inspired by X. Foot notes. That would be the literal translation of Footnotesthe new function that Tiktok has launched in the United States. It is a data verification system through collective collaboration, or what is the same, the equivalent in Tiktok a X -community notesbefore Twitter. 23 Twitter tricks – This social network is completely dominated! This will see the notes at the foot of Tiktok | Image: Tiktok And what is it? Suppose we find a video of a user who states that the earth is flat because one day he went to the beach, He looked forward and couldn’t see the curvature. With this new function, anyone could explain why this argument does not have any meaning and link to any scientific publication, wikipedia or article as a source. In the case of something more controversial or than more interpretation, users could explain the subject, give more context, etc. Tiktok will use what is known as “Bridging-Based Ranking“, that is, a system that rewards consensus. The note that will be display There is not much discussionbut in more gray issues (politics, events …) there may be a variety of opinions and there is no absolute truth. The idea of Footnotes is, in some way, add context and information respecting the diversity of opinions when proceeding. Users must sign up for a program to add notes. By adding them, they will have to say the reason why a note deserves, add a comment and put a link to a “reliable source” | Image: Tiktok Who watches the watchman. With one estimate Of 34 million videos uploaded to day, Tiktok is aware that moderating so much content already such a scale is complex. If we add to that the notes of the community, the thing goes more. Thus, Tiktok says that “we will use a combination of automated and human moderation to help detect and eliminate footnotes that breach the standards.” Users can also report the notes they consider harmful. At the moment, only in the United States. According to Erica Ruzic, director of integrity and authenticity of Tiktok products “we have chosen the US market because it is large enough to have a content ecosystem that can support this type of test.” There is no intention to launch them in the global market, at least for the moment, although from Tiktok they will evaluate the test and analyze whether it is worth launching it in other markets. It is, at least, curious that Tiktok has chosen the United States for this test. Tiktok should have left the US market at the beginning of the year having refused to sell their local operations, but Donald Trump has been granted extensions Waiting for a solution. At the moment, everything indicates that Bytedance is working on a version of Tiktok by and for the United States, but nothing is known about it. Disinformation in Tiktok. The Chinese platform has been several times in the eye of the hurricane. One of the most striking and recent cases was the alleged Russian interference in the Romanian electionscase that is being investigated by the European Union and that forced to cancel and repeat the elections. Although the platform has mechanisms and commitments to curb misinformation, the reality is complex. The efforts, however, must go in that direction. According to the last European Parliament Youth Survey From the European Union, 42% of young people between 16 and 30 use Tiktok, Instagram and YouTube to access news about politics or social. If we add that, according to the Reuters Digital Institute News Report of 2024 (PDF), 27% of Tiktok users have trouble identifying deceptive content, we get a dangerous cocktail. Cover image | Collabstr in Unspash

A car rental company has fined a customer with 100 euros for smoking behind the wheel. The only problem is that he never did

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Should you smoke inside the car? The debate is a pédiagudo and has gained strength in Spain in recent weeks after the balloon was dropped that smoking could be prohibited from the wheel in our country. The reasons wielded range from the health of the rest of the passengers (especially if the driver travels with children) to the possible distractions that a cigarette can cause. But where Smoking is prohibited It is in rental cars or in shared car services. That is what a driver has discovered to whom a company the carsharing platform Thousandsvery widespread in Berlin, has punished with 100 euros of sanction because it ensures that it briefly smoked up to four times. However, the driver alleges that this is not possible. He says not only that he has not smoked in the car, he emphasizes that he is not even a smoker. A black box for smokers The story is brought by our German companions of Gamestar Tech. They explain that, as in Spain, neither in their carsharing vehicles is allowed to smoke. To control it, cars have a small smoke detector that launches a sound warning when it records that someone inside the vehicle is smoking. According to the company, this notice rang up to four times on a three -kilometer journey that lasted 10 minutes. The driver does recognize that the detector rang but defends himself by ensuring that he is not a smoker and that, of course, he did not smoked inside the car. In your article, Gamestar Tech It shows the activity peaks registered by the smoke detector in which the four, supposed, smoke snacks that the driver expelled. The sanction on the part of the company is 100 euros but the driver says he has no intention of paying it. To try to get rid of the fine, the sanctioned contacted thousands, the carsharing company, but these were limited to showing the report with the four peaks of activity. As in the case of defective AI When reviewing the damage to a rental car, we are facing the evidence that the driver and the company are in unequal positions because one has alleged activity records and the driver has no way to prove that it is A “non -smoker”. Although the case of this driver is the last one, it is not much less unique. In social networks You can read similar complaints of other drivers who have had problems with the service of Miles, ensuring that the detector began to whistle without having reasons for it. In all testimonies a sanction is mentioned by the company of 100 euros. Some even point out that they have charged this amount up to three occasions. In the case of thousands, the detector is designed by Bosch and it is common to find them in rental vehicles. In the Consumer Information Association Austrian highlights the case of a driver who lived a similar situation. This time with a rental car and an economic punishment that reached 300 euros. The Bosch system boasts to be able to discern if a person has smoked or simply has a smell of tobacco impregnated in clothes. Therefore, I should be able to discriminate if really The driver has given or not a draft to cigarette. In addition, they claim to use artificial intelligence to send a signal to the center that manages fleets when the detector has been activated to give notice and, thus, to be able to manage the car cleaning more quickly. Photo | Thousands Mobility and Hans Isaacson In Xataka | Smoking ends on the terraces and beaches: socially makes sense, scientifically not so much

For months Ukraine turned a strategic city into impregnable. Until Russia added a lethal partner to his drones

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The Summer offensive From Russia in eastern Ukraine, launched in May, has been advancing on the battlefield On multiple frontsexploring and attacking with small and fast units as the fighting intensifies day by day. With his advance, Russia has changed The rhythm of warcapturing more and more square kilometers. However, for many months, one of the bloodiest battles has taken place in a single enclave. Prolonged defense. For months, the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk became one of the most fierce epicenters of the war, where kyiv’s forces managed to stop a numerically superior enemy thanks to intensive use of armed drones and staggered defenses that worn thousands of Russian soldiers. This bastion, located on important reserves of coquizable coal and that worked as a key point of the supply lines to the east, has been subject to a constant siege since last year, first through frontal attacks and then through Fence attempts. Fiber as a disruptive. Although the Ukrainian resistance managed to stop these advances, Russia has gone adapting their tactics with greater deployment of drones, finally including the models than We have been talking In recent months: those Drones with optical fiber Impossible to block with electronic warfare systems, capable of achieving objectives up to 25 kilometers after the front line. Human and logistics cost. The price of this slow offensive has been devastating for Moscow: tens of thousands of casualties accumulate around Pokrovsk, with soldiers sent in Precarious conditionssome recruited in criminal colonies with just a week of training, other wounded or poorly equipped. Many were released in almost suicidal wavesadvancing on foot or motorcycles to avoid drone detection, in groups of just half a dozen, replaced again and again after each failure. Russian prisoners They reported that the greatest fear in the battlefield were not tanks or artillery, but Small Ukrainian quadricopters that bombarded from the air without rest, generating psychological terror and nightmares between the troops. kyiv, meanwhile, He suffered the pressure Of a hostile environment, with supply routes subjected to the fire of drones and artillery, which forced to cover roads with protection networks and to face increasing difficulties to supply food and food to the few civilians who remain in the city. Russian adaptation. Underlined a report Reuters that Ukrainian resistance, organized with the experience of units such as called “Da Vinci Wolves” And under the command of General Mykhaylo Drapatyi, he managed to maintain the line during more than a yearapplying counterattacks and hindering enemy logistics. However, Russian numerical superiority, key road control and the introduction of new technologies began to Tilt the balance. The calls “Kill Zone drones” They cover kilometers on each side of the front, making reinforcements and supplies on both sides. Russian advances, although limited in territory, accelerated in The spring of 2025with the greatest Ukrainian territorial losses of the year concentrated in this sector. Pokrovsk’s partial fall, although symbolically minimized by Zelenski, could release Russian military resources and open the door to greater progress in Donbás, approaching Putin to one of its fundamental objectives. Strategic implications. Background, Pokrovsk represents the paradigm of the wear war that today defines the conflict: minimum territorial advances achieved to a exorbitant human costwith drone technology as a decisive factor on the battlefield. For Ukraine, its resistance has been a crucial brake that prevented Russia from consolidating control, Especially Donetskbut the price has been the almost total destruction of the city and the loss of its logistics function. For Russia, the eventual conquest of Pokrovsk would serve to reinforce its control over the eastalthough he has succeeded by sacrificing thousands of soldiers, many of them poorly trained and equipped. If you want, the battle illustrates the transformation of modern combat, where the troops are trapped in a new war era defined by drone swarms, electronic war and mass attacks that make each meter live in a victory … with very little to celebrate. Image | US Air Force In Xataka | The 1500 RAM truck is an American national emblem. For some reason, it is being important in the war in Ukraine In Xataka | We already know what Russia’s trick is to multiply its drones: it is called “cooling units” and comes direct from China

Look for 4,000 volunteers with these requirements

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There was a time when payment cards occupied space in the wallet and could be forgotten at home. Today, most already lives on our mobile. In public transport, that transition is still slower. But if you use the transport fertilizer of the Community of Madrid, there is an important novelty: very soon you can take it on the mobile. No physical cards. At least, in theory. Because it will not be for everyone, or in any way. A pilot test for 4,000 users. The implementation of the digital transport fertilizer starts with a controlled test. The Community of Madrid has invited 4,000 people to participate in the first official pilota phase designed to validate the operation of the app, analyze the behavior of readers on the network and collect data on the real use of the system. Not everyone can access this option immediately. Participation requires prior registration, and those selected will receive custom instructions to download the app, digitize their physical card and start traveling with the mobile. This first phase will have an estimated duration of 12 weeks. How the app works and what do you need to use it. The operation is simple: you digitize your physical card through the new mitarjetatransporte app, and from there you can bring your mobile device to the access or validator lathe where you start your trip, as if it were a physical card. But not any mobile is worth. To join this test you need a device with Android 9.0 or superior, technology NFC and the application Google Wallet installed. The virtual card is not managed from the original app, but is saved directly in Wallet. And if you have an iPhone, for now, you will stay out: this first version is only compatible with Android. The cards that can be digitized. The MY transport card is only compatible with the Personal Public Transport Card (Personal TTP) and, more specifically, with monthly type fertilizers. They are out of this test: The children’s card The blue card Annual fertilizers Non -personal or other users Digitization is designed for individual and exclusive use. Register is not automatic: thus you can participate in the test. Sinning to this pilot test requires a previous step. It is not enough to have the app or compatible mobile: you have to fill out a Official form available on this link and wait confirmation. In that form some key data are requested, such as the model of your mobile, the Android version and the email you use on Google Wallet. Once the application is sent, you will receive a proof. If everything goes well and you are selected, you will get an email from testappcrtm@madrid.org With the download link and the steps to start. You have a two -week margin to complete the process. You digitize your card, but physics stop working. When you activate the virtual card, physics is deactivated. It is not a copy or a duplicate version: the system transfers your payment to the mobile and leaves the original card useless. It is a complete change, although reversible if later you decide to return to the physical format. This measure seeks to avoid fraud and ensure that each payment can only be used from a single support. Therefore, if you are thinking of trying the app, it is convenient to be clear that there is no immediate back: you have to request it if you want to return to the physical card. What tickets and fertilizers can you use from the mobile. During the test, the virtual card allows you to keep the titles already loaded in the physical TTP and acquire new ones from the mobile. The following are available: Personal titles: monthly transport fertilizer Non -personal titles: 10 trips, airport supplement, tourist ticket Annual titles and those associated with non -compatible cards, such as children or blue are out of this version. The system also does not allow the use of simple tickets from the app. What if something fails? Thus the problems are reported. It can happen: this is a test and the consortium needs to know what fails. For that they have enabled a form within the app itself, where you can report errors in the discharge, validation, recharge or general operation. You can also write directly to testappcrtm@madrid.org. It is not necessary for the failure to be serious: even a small detail helps improve the system. If everything goes well, you can also leave comments or suggestions. And if any validator does not work, remember: you can consult and show the balance of your card from the app. That serves as proof in case they ask you to justify that you carry the active fertilizer. Other important limitations that you must take into account. Before throwing you, some limitations should be clear. The virtual card does not replace everything. For example, you will not be able to use it to access free parkings linked to public transport, since the system is not yet enabled at those points. In addition, participation demands commitment: if you do not make real use during the pilot’s weeks, they could cancel you. It is not enough to download the app and leave it there. And an important detail: the link to download the app will only be active for two weeks. If not complete the process within that period, you will have to start over (if you allow it). After the pilot, the digital card will remain active. The use of the digital card does not end with the test. Once the pilot ends – previso with a duration of about 12 weeks – users can continue to use their digitized TTP without returning to the physical card. The objective of the consortium is to progressively extend this option to the set of users. But, for now, there is no confirmed date for its general implementation. This phase will be used to evaluate the system and prepare the ground for its complete deployment. … Read more

Japan has been teaching tsunamis evacuation routes for years for years in the most Japanese way possible: with video games

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The memory is fragile, especially under the panic of a tsunami alert. But the Japanese have shown that they are prepared to evacuate the coastal areas. It is no accident. Japan has been exploring innovative methods for years to train its citizens. Context. He Magnitude earthquake 8.7 near the Kamchatka Peninsula He has put on the entire east coast of Japan, forcing almost two million people to evacuate their homes. Although the waves did not exceed the meter and a half, the sirens reminded the Japanese an uncomfortable truth: when the water approaches, every second and each decision tells. And that is precisely the problem of drills: people do not always pay their attention. Given this challenge, several Japanese universities have been developing and perfecting a solution that unites the most vital need in case of Tsunami with one of the largest passions in the country: video games. The 2011 memory. To understand why Japan has been trying to “gamify” the evacuations, you just have to look back, to the 2011 earthquake. That disaster, which left more than 22,000 dead and missing, revealed the critical failures in the evacuation plans. More than 60% of the evacuees used their car, convinced that they would reach a safe place faster. The result was a predictable chaos: monumental traffic jams that caught thousands of people in flood areas. The reality is stubborn. Although the authorities usually recommend evacuating on foot, recent surveys showed that about 50% of the Japanese would come back into the car against a Tsunami alert. This creates an incredibly dangerous scenario, where pedestrians and vehicles compete in a race desperate for survival. It is in this context where digital drills make more sense. They can recreate the chaos of a mixed evacuation of cars and pedestrians to levels to which a physical simulation does not arrive, managing to train citizens for the real dangers they will face. Virtual reality and unreal Engine. The Nippon Institute of Technology developed a simulator with an aseptic name: application of evacuation training against Tsunamis. Based on real evacuation techniques, it is not an action video game, but a virtual reality application based on the Unreal Engine 4 graphic engine that puts the user in real Japan locations with a high risk of Tsunami. The simulator asks you: “What should you notice in this situation?” and the user must touch on the screen the element that considers a risk or an opportunity. It can be a traffic light, a tall building designated as a refuge, a pedestrian about to crossly cross or a car that skips a stop. To motivate users to practice daily, the app incorporates gamification elements, such as a stamps system for completing training with constancy. Do you really work? To validate their effectiveness, the researchers conducted an experiment with 25 citizens of Nishio. First, the participants carried out a virtual evacuation in an immersive simulator, equipped with a virtual reality helmet (HTC Vive Pro Eye) for foot evacuations and a car wheel. Their behavior was measured and asked what they considered important during an evacuation. The results, published in the magazine GeosciencesThey were revealing. After using the app, the participants were much faster and more effective when identifying immediate hazards in their surroundings, such as pedestrians or other vehicles. However, they still had difficulty detecting important but distant elements, such as a hospital or a high building that served as a refuge. Their attention focused on what they had right ahead, especially the elderly, who took longer to respond and had lower success rates.

This is no longer about ideas, it goes from industry

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Everything indicates that coexistence with Humanoid robots It will cease to be exceptional sooner rather than later. Before crossing with style androids’The Bicentennial Man‘, we are likely to see in our day to day more contained versions, functional and charismatic, such as the robot of’Sunny‘, The Apple TV+series. Although resorting to science fiction to imagine the future does not convince everyone, it remains a useful tool to put an image to what could be to come. ‘Her‘, with Joaquin Phoenix and the voice of Scarlett Johansson, he did more than a decade ago: He anticipated with disturbing precision the type of link that begins to come true today with Chatgpt’s most advanced voice modes. China wants to be in the center of that revolution. It has been incurred in artificial and robotic intelligence for years, two industries that advance more and more united. This week, as a statement of intentions, He has exhibited More than 150 robots in an international summit held in Shanghai. A sample of force, but also a track of what is coming. Futurist showcase to realities laboratory The WAIC 2025 It hasn’t been another fair. For four days, Shanghai became a showcase of the present – and not only of the future – of humanoid robotics. Hundreds of robots paraded through the event, in what is already considered the most ambitious alignment ever gathered in China. More than 80 specialized companies participated in the exhibition, and at least 60 models made their world debut. But it was not just a matter of numbers: the relevant thing was to see how these machines begin to acquire form, functions and meaning beyond the laboratory. The new robotic fold arm, fed by the VLA de Tencent language model, was one of the protagonists of the event. His proposal goes beyond mechanical precision: Combine vision, language and action in the same system. The robot understands what is asked, analyzes the context in which it is located and generates movement plans autonomously. You can reject absurd orders, adjust your movements if you detect errors and respond in a consistent way during a conversation. All this allows you to face dynamic tasks with unpublished flexibility in industrial robots. Unitree, meanwhile, opted for motor expressiveness: from calligraphy to boxing, through a new humanoid robot designed as a personal assistant. Deep Robotics focused on real deployment: its quadrupeds are active in more than 600 environments, from electrical installations to educational centers. Keenon, with his Bípedo Xman robot, points to the services sector. And Cyborg Robotics presented the country’s first heavy load humanoid, aimed at demanding industrial tasks. Humanoid robotics lives a turning point. According to Jiang Lei, one of the key voices in the development of corporate in China, told Global Times that The industry is going from theory to practice. The new generations of robots no longer only observe or execute scheduled routines: they perceive their environment, adjust their movements in real time and face complex tasks with a precision that already touches the millimeter. That opens the door to real applications in sectors such as health, trade or logistics, where the margin of error is increasingly narrow. Click to see the original publication in x Although the achievements are visible, the challenges persist. The United States maintains leadership in fundamental aspects of humanoid movement, such as biomechanics and locomotive autonomy. But many believe that China is beginning to stand out on other fronts: large -scale production capacity, massive access to data and iteration speed. It is not just a matter of algorithms: it is a matter of system. China not only wants to make robots: wants to export them. And he has taken advantage of the event to highlight it. In emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, its offer Technology is finding fertile terrain. There, the demand for automated solutions for electronics, semiconductors or industrial processes is growing, and Chinese manufacturers are trying to respond with solid, reliable and competitive proposals. Images | Artificial World Intelligence Conference (WAIC) In Xataka | Entering Google or Apple was always the dream of university students thanks to their salary and conditions. Now it’s a nightmare

Generate day energy and hunt asteroids at night

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At the time they seemed the future of solar energy for their ability to follow the sun with oscillating mirrors. Today the solar concentration plants, which direct the light by heliostats towards a large central tower, They cannot compete with photovoltaic prices collapse. But when a door closes, sometimes a window opens to the universe. Short. A pilot project in the United States has begun to take advantage of these gigantic mirrors when the sun falls for the Planetary Defense. For the day, heliostats generate energy concentrating sunlight in a tower connected to steam turbines. At night, they defend the planet of potentially dangerous asteroids. The figures are devastating. The thermoelectric solar energy has lost the battle against photovoltaic by win. In 2023, the world installed the record figure of 345.5 gigawatts in solar panels, but the solar thermos I barely added 0.3 GW in total. And what is worse, since then construction is not started of no new plant. Although Spain, the world leader in concentration technology, maintains its centrals working, other projects are canceled or reconvisaged. Morocco has replaced the Termosolar part of the MEGACOMPLEJO NOOR MIDELT by photovoltaic after qualifying it as “immature and face technology”. And iconic projects, such as the gigantic Ivanpah plant in Californianow face their closure for not being able to compete with the low price of photovoltaic kilowatt. Save the planet, and incidentally investment. Given this panorama, what can be done with these huge and expensive infrastructure? John Sandusky, scientific researcher at Sandia laboratories, has been turning an idea for almost 20 years. “Heliostat fields do not have a night job. They are simply there, without using,” Explain in a statement. “We have the opportunity to give a night work at a relatively low cost to find objects close to Earth.” The proposal is not to use heliostats to take photos of the sky. Its optical quality is not enough to form crisp images such as a telescope. The genius of the proposal, embodied in a Study of the late 2024 That has already been put into practice, lies in using what these mirrors do best: concentrate light. A lot of light. How it works. The traditional method seeks in the long exposure images the steles that the asteroids leave when moving against the fund of fixed stars. Sandusky’s method is radically different and is based on frequency analysis. Instead of aiming at a fixed point, the plant’s software causes the heliostats (mirrors designed to follow the sun) oscillate, sweeping a small portion of the sky at a constant and repetitive rate. The light of the stars, swept at this constant pace, generates a signal in the tower receiver with a specific and predictable frequency. It is the “tone” base of the sky. If an asteroid crosses that field of vision, moves at a different angular velocity from that of the stars. This makes the light that reflects generates a signal with a slightly different frequency from that of the “tone” base. It is a tiny change, but measurable with current technology. And can be used to detect asteroids due to its speed relative to the stars. From theory to practice. A team has demonstrated its viability using a single heliostat, and is already working to climb the project to a large solar plant to increase sensitivity and to detect smaller and more distant objects. Even tracking satellites and other objects in the cislunar space, to sell the idea to the space force. Sandusky’s idea is a masterful example of lateral thought. Instead of building new and very expensive observatories, it reuses a multimillion -dollar infrastructure that would otherwise be inactive half of the time. A technology that fights to survive in the competitive energy market and that could find a second life, a second job. Image | Pexels In Xataka | It was inaugurated in 2014 as the largest solar thermal energy plant in the world. Will close after setting fire to birds

Someone has made a ranking with the greatest fines in the history of Spain and an old suspect is in the lead: Ryanair

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The fine imposed by the Government of Spain to Ryanair is the highest in the history of our country. The more than 100 million euros of sanction exceed all the records we had until a few months ago. To get an idea, the highest fine until then was just over three million euros. These are the most large fines and the companies that have received them. The highest. Without any discussion and without competitors. Ryanair received a sanction of 107.78 million euros last November 2024 on the occasion of his hand luggage policy. The sanction did not arrive alone and also punished Vueling (almost 40 million euros) and Easyjet (almost 30 million euros) for the same issue. However, Ryanair’s traffic volume is so high That by punishing the same fact repeatedly, the economic amount for the company is very high. So much so that, as we see, the two companies that accompanied him in it were well below the punishment to the Irish airline. Unprecedented. The list with the 15 toughest fines imposed by Spanish entities to companies operating in our country has collected Facua. This classification shows how, before the sanction to the airlines, the toughest fine had been for Unicaja and had stayed at 3.17 million euros. At that time, the Junta de Andalucía punished Unicaja in a package that extended to other banks that had imposed land clauses to their customers in mortgages. Rapier It was considered abusivehe entailed a very small fine with Ryanair’s. Despite being the first until very recently, Ryanair’s fine is 3,400%. Who appears? In addition to the aforementioned airlines, Norweigan was also part of that package and slipped between the 10 largest sanctions in our country. In between, Movistar (receivable in the time of the calls), CaixaBank (soil clauses), Vodafone (seven fraud among which is the deceptive advertising) and Endesa (for applying illegal rates for the rental of their light counters). It should be noted that, in addition, Movistar is the company that repeats the most in the ranking, adding up to three fines, the aforementioned and two other sanctions worth 1.53 million euros. Vodafone also repeats with a second fine of 1.19 million euros. Volotea, the fifth and final sanctioned airline, also appears here with a fine of 1.4 million. Banco Mare Nostrum (BNM) and Caja Rural de Granada are two other financial entities that close the breakdown. Has there been any consequence? Yes, although Ryanair has camouflaged him In response to rates, supposedly abusivefrom Aena at airports. Its response has been the abandonment or partial exit of some regional airports. A change of strategy propitious to the company And that, in addition, it has served to press the government, aware of the importance of these spaces. While Ryanair has been winning passengers in Spain, now he faces new fines. Some of the routes survived by the commercial agreements that Ryanair maintained with municipalities and other entities for advertising that acted as Covering line of the line. That has caused the complaint of, among others, The Mayor’s Office. Who is right? It remains to be seen. At the moment, the sanction is imposed but in Spain justice has proved both to the government and the company Despite judging the same fact: the possibility or not of Ryanair to charge for hand luggage. Until now, aerial regulations force airlines to let a lump pass that allows the “essential” to transfer. That, according to the government, cannot enter the brief measures that The company applies. Ryanair alleges otherwise And emphasize that there is no paper that proves the minimum size that the backpack has to have. The latest changes. Everything indicates that Europe is going to put on the side of Ryanair. The institutions are advancing in a new regulation to fly in which you want to stipulate a minimum measure for cabin luggage. This is slightly higher than that forced by Ryanair and The company has already made the changes to adapt to the regulations. It remains to be seen, to leave that new regulation ahead, the company would end up claiming Spain the money of the large fine with which it has punished it. This listing list shown can completely change if your claims get ahead. Photo | Nejc Soklič AND FACUA DATA In Xataka | Ryanair’s new competition does not come from any European airline: it comes from India and has an ambitious plan

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